


To Be The One By Your Sides

by MysticalYuuki



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Adventure, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other, Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:01:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26161552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticalYuuki/pseuds/MysticalYuuki
Summary: ***5.3 spoilers***Aymeric de Borel loves the Warrior of Light, Yori Akari. It's plain to see. One day, Yori introduces Aymeric to G'raha Tia, their new travelling partner. Aymeric wishes them luck on their journey, and wonders if it’s too late to be with Yori. He then is interrupted, and finds out about a new possible threat to Ishgard from the Empire.
Relationships: Aymeric de Borel & Warrior of Light, Aymeric de Borel/Player Character, Aymeric de Borel/Warrior of Light, Aymeric/Warrior of Light/G'raha, G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch & Aymeric de Borel, G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch & Warrior of Light, G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	To Be The One By Your Sides

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! First time writing a fanfic, so hopefully I don't disappoint! 
> 
> Story inspired by this tweet: https://twitter.com/regretorb/status/1296522853601296385
> 
> Thank you so much for clicking on this!!

"Ah! Yori, welcome back! I'm so glad to see that you're safe and sound!" Ser Aymeric gleefully exclaimed as he saw the esteemed guest of Ishgard enter his office. He knew of their journey to the First Shard, and somewhat knew of the events that unfolded from the updates that Tataru gave to the Alliance. "We should celebrate your, and everyone else's, safe return! How about we have some dinner-". Then, someone else had then also come into his office. "Ah- who may this be?"

A male Miqo'te with red eyes and reddish-brown hair stood next to Yori, his ears twitching and appeared to be quite flustered. Yori smiled fondly at the person next to them, seeming to reassure him, and then looked at Aymeric.

"Aymeric, meet G'raha Tia, the newest member of the Scions," They started. "He's become some sort of adventuring partner, and I'm showing him the inner depths of Eorzea. We were in Ishgard, and I thought that I should pop in to visit.". Almost instantly, Aymeric felt his stomach drop. He looked over their companion.

_Newest Scions… adventuring… partner?_

"A-Ah, I see…" He forced a polite smile. "It's nice to meet you, G'raha Tia."

G'raha stiffened and then gave a small little bow. "No, no, please just call me G'raha, it's a complete honour to meet you, Ser Aymeric. I've heard a lot about you from Yori," G'raha replied. Aymeric felt his stomach lighten up, and his lips perked up a little.

"And you can call me Aymeric," He replied. He felt a little embarrassed, knowing that Yori themselves had talked about him, seemingly in a positive light. "Well, any friend of theirs is a friend of mine. If you ever need any help here or around Ishgard, be sure to ask, and I'll help."

G'raha nodded and smiled. "Thank you so much, Aymeric." Aymeric, of course, nodded back. G'raha didn't seem to be a bad person, at least.

"Oh, as I said before, why don't all the Scions come here for a celebratory dinner? The Empire has been quiet as of late, so I thought maybe three days from now, at sunset, we could gather," Aymeric started.

"That would be wonderful," Yori replied, "I'll be sure to let Tataru know that you've invited the others."

"How about yourself?"

"I will be heading off to Kugane next with G'raha, so I don't think we'll be able to make it. Thank you for the invitation, though."

_Curses._

Aymeric tried his best to hide his frown, but he remained as polite as he could. A burst of small laughter was quickly hidden from behind him. "Well, that's a shame," He started. "Hopefully next time."

Yori did their stoic nod. "Well, we'll be taking our leave. Please excuse us,". They turned around and left the room, with G'raha bowing one more time, and then followed them out.

Aymeric leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, and his face in his hands. Metallic footsteps then walked from behind him, and stopped in front of his table. Aymeric peaked through his hands, looking at the Garlean female in front of him. She balled up her fists, her right fist sitting on her chest, and her left behind her back. "Pray excuse me, however may I speak out of order, my Lord?"

"Yes, do go on, Lucia…"

"It appears that you've been too slow to take that position yourself." Aymeric dug his face into his hands even further.

_If only I had not been elected as the leader of Ishgard, that could have been me by your side…_

Aymeric tried his best to be friendly, supportive, and to always remain calm in front of Yori. He had to leave a good impression; he didn't want to seem too forward, albeit he does admit to asking for more dinner dates than one would expect from a leader. When Yori wasn't there, he found it much harder to remain composed if something involved them. His feelings wouldn't allow it. But he couldn't help it.

He loved them.

They were the person he aspired to be. Strong, dependable, stubborn to see things through, able to unite the peoples for a common cause… They even managed to end the Dragonsong War for Gods sake. Yet, they were still modest, willing to help even with the most minor tasks. They may have been the Warrior of Light, with the Scions by their side, but they still made time for him. They both foresaw the same future for Ishgard, and perhaps for Eorzea overall.

But, of course, after the Dragonsong War, Aymeric had been swamped with work, and Yori had other Scion work to do as well. He'd sometimes see Yori at Alliance meetings and try to make pleasantries. Still, they would rarely have any time alone for him to make any advances. Not before being swamped by their own companions to continue working.

"Lucia…" He sighed. "What do you suggest I do?"

"Oh, did I come at a bad time?" A tall, white-haired male Elezen had entered the room. "Something about the Lord Commander having issues commanding his heart?". Aymeric lifted his head from his hands and stared daggers at the individual.

"I am only but a Man, my friend." Aymeric replied. "Estinien, please don't say you only came here to make a fool out of me."

"I jest I jest." Estinien laughed. "I saw Yori walking out on the way here, so it was easy to assume I'd come here seeing you all flustered."

Aymeric raised a brow. "So you've come back with information?"

"Why else would I be here?"

"Please, take a seat," Aymeric directed Estinien to sit at the chair opposite his desk. Estinien smirked and sat down. "Lucia, please go and fetch us something to drink?" Lucia simply nodded and bowed, then left the room.

"So, we both know that the Garlean Empire and the Alliance is currently at a standstill," Estinien started. "Which, thankfully, has allowed us to have the Scions return to us safely. But as anyone can assume, they definitely do have something up their sleeves. Like with the Ruby Weapon and it's successors, they're figuring out all kinds of ways to overthrow us."

"Where are you going with this?"

"Ishgard. They've figured out that Ishgard is the Alliance's weakest link. They're going to attack the city. Then the rest of the towns and camps around the city and in the mountains." Aymeric slammed the desk and stood up.

"But that's preposterous! The Garlean Empire is nowhere near us. How are they supposed to get to us if they can't even get through Gyn Abania to Ala Mhigo?"

"Calm down Aymeric, I don't understand either," Estinien tried to calm him down. Aymeric took a deep breath and sat back down. "This is just what I've heard. I can't exactly ask questions when I'm on a scouting mission, and especially can't when I'm being chased," Estinien shook his head. "I'm sure it's just plans in concept that will never come in fruition. Or fake plans they've implemented to throw off spies, like me, or to make sure that fake leaks come out."

"What would be the goal of releasing fake information?"

"Probably to make us reorganise the soldiers; move more of them to Ishgard. Then they could make a move on Ala Mhigo."

"That does make sense…" Aymeric started to ponder.

_But something about it feels off. Did they really think that we would believe such outrageous plans?_

"I don't think these are fake plans, Estinien," Aymeric looked him straight in the eyes. "These are real, I think they are actually going to try to do this. Did you hear any sort of time frame?"

"You have got to be kidding, my friend." He looked confused. "They did not give any time frame, which only further proves the fact that it's a fake tip to throw us off."

Logically, Aymeric knew that it was indeed a ruse to throw the Alliance off. However, he had this uneasy feeling in his stomach; something wasn't right about all of this. He didn't like it. Estinien looked at his friend with unease. This is the first time that he saw his friend in such a state since he first became leader.

"Pray excuse me," Lucia knocked, and then entered back into the room with the drinks that Aymeric had asked for earlier. "Sorry for disrupting your conversation, Lord Commander, but I've come bearing some news."

"Don't fret about it," Aymeric reassured her. Lucia placed the drinks in front of him and Estinien. "What news did we receive?"

"The Alliance is planning a meeting in Ul' dah in three days' time, and have asked for your attendance," Lucia started. "I'm assuming you will be attending?"

"Of course," Aymeric nodded. "Let them know that I've got some news to discuss to them from our good friend Estinien," Estinien shot him a stern look. "It doesn't hurt to discuss it."

"Very well," Lucia replied. "Also, the Scions confirmed that they'll arrive tomorrow for the supper that you offered." Estinien burst out laughing.

"Tried to invite Yori to dinner again?" He continued laughing. "It hasn't worked since the first time you did it, yet you still try!" Aymeric looked away from him.

"Did you want to join us for a meal then? Yori won't be joining so we have spare space…"

"And they're not coming! Ah my friend, you have really outdone yourself this time," He put his hand on Aymeric's shoulder. "I'll be fine, thank you, but I wish you luck out there."

Aymeric sighed and stood up, and Estinien dropped his hand. "Well, thank you for the information Estinien, I'll go talk to the Alliance and see what they say. They will probably agree with your theory that it's just a ruse, but…"

"But?"

"No, it's nothing. I now need to prepare for the Scions' return, please do excuse me."

Estinien waved off Aymeric as he left his office. "Don't miss Yori and me too much!"

Lucia was preparing to walk after the Lord Commander, but Estinien stopped her before she could leave.

"Lucia, wait," He called.

"How can I help you, Ser Azure Dragoon?"

"Just let me ask one thing."

"What may it be?"

"You agree that our good friend there is an idiot, right?"

"Of course."

~~~~

An ash-white haired Hyur, a grey-haired Elezen, and a black-haired Elezen all sat at a table. Thancred, Urianger, and Aymeric. Those were the only three people in the dining room, with a long table filled to the brim with various types of food. There was no way any of them would have been able to finish that amount of food.

"Wast thee expecting more of the scions to cometh?" Urianger said, looking quite stunned at the amount of food that was brought in.

"No kidding," Thancred agreed, looking equally stunned. "Yori said that it would be a small gathering, I was not expecting a full banquet."

Aymeric nodded, albeit he looked quite embarrassed. "I told Yori that it was a dinner for the Scions to celebrate their return from the First… I guess Yori downscaled what I had planned."

Thancred burst out laughing. "Of course Yori would do that, you can never tell what the scale is for anything with that person." Urianger smiled and nodded.

"Yond's what the Warrior of Light is liketh. Nay task is too big."

"You know what is too big, though? The amount of food we have," Thancred stated, as he continued to gawk at the sheer amount of food. "Guess we should try to start before the food becomes cold." The other two nodded, and they tried to make a dent at the food before them.

"So why did you two come? Rather than the twins or Y'shtola, or even your secretary, Tataru?" Aymeric asked.

"He came here because he wanted to do more research at the Atheneum Arcaneum. I came along with him because I wanted to do some training in the area," Thancred told Aymeric. "We all knew that you mostly wanted Yori to come and we didn't want to bother you, but I'm glad I came. Otherwise, there would have been so much more food wasted." Aymeric looked like a deer in headlights.

"Even the Scions know about my feelings?" Aymeric was incredibly flustered.

"I offer my most humble apology f'r declaring this," Urianger started. "Thou art in love with Yori, 'tis plain to see."

Aymeric felt himself burning with embarrassment. Thancred chuckled at the Lord Commander's reaction. "Don't worry, Yori hasn't realised at all. They may be the saviour of Eorzea, but they sometimes can be useless at putting two & two together."

Aymeric was relieved, but he still couldn't believe he was that obvious.

_Well, if they know, I guess I can ask them, right?_

"T-Then, I suppose I shall ask, what do you two think I should do?" Aymeric stuttered. He hoped that his companions wouldn't laugh at him for his inexperience, despite being close in age.

"I haven't loved someone in a while, not since they had passed away…" Thancred looked away, appearing deep in thought. Urianger nodded.

"I concur. But I doth bethink of that lady every day, and what I wish I couldst has 't done," He started. "Spendeth moro time with them. Join in their adventure. Then peradventure, thee can alloweth thy feelings be best known."

"I wish I could have, but there's only so much I could do," Aymeric sighed. The three ate as much as they could in silence after that, before they had to eventually give up. Aymeric thanked for their time, and made the two of them take as much food as they can. He then offered his soldiers if they wanted the leftovers for themselves or their family, and then asked if they could try to distribute it across the city. He felt bad for only giving them leftovers, but it was better than wasting the food entirely. He probably would have had leftovers anyway, even if more Scions had come.

But, he now had to focus on getting ready for the meeting with the Alliance. He needed to let them know about the Empire's plan on attacking Ishgard. He could think about Yori later.

**Author's Note:**

> Thancred: "Yeah, remember Minfilia ahahaha..."  
> Urianger: "Thou shalt fucking ask Yori out you piece of shit whAT ARE YOU-"
> 
> Tried to keep them in character as much as possible (we've only seen aymeric as the WoL so of course now that we can see him outside of the WoL I made him a massive fanboy basically)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! Super hope you enjoyed, and let me know what you think!! See you next chapter~


End file.
